It was a big day in Des Moines yesterday – a major snow storm blew in and thousands of farmers blew in with weather for the 56th Annual Iowa Power Farming Show. In tandem with the show, Ames, IA based Ag Leader Technology launched some new precision ag products and their team spent a very busy day demonstrating them for hundreds of growers who stopped by their booth. One new product is the updated Mesa Rugged Notepad with the SMS Mobile software package.
The Mesa Rugged Notepad is a handheld device that is larger than a PDA but smaller than a laptop and the perfect size for growers to take out to the field. And it’s durable – it can be rained on or dropped and it will stand up to the wear and tear. It also has a glare-proof screen so even on the sunniest of days, you’ll have no problem reading the screen.
The SMS Mobile software includes several key types of in-field information that can be collected and analyzed including Soil Sampling Mode, Crop Scouting Mode, Coverage Mode, Boundary Mode, and General Logging Mode.
I caught up with Michael Vos, Software Sales Manager for Ag Leader to learn more about the SMS Mobile technology that was launched and how it will improve a grower’s operations. Vos gave me a step-by-step tutorial on how one element, the Soil Sampling Mode, worked. You can watch here in this detailed video. Now don’t worry. Even if you’re new to GPS systems and the software, the Ag Leader team will get you set up, trained and started in no time.
SMS Mobile is available right now through the purchase of a Mesa Rugged Notepad kit or you can purchase the SMS mobile and install it on your own device. To learn more, contact Ag Leader or visit their website.
You can check out Ag Leader during the Iowa Power Farming Show in our flickr photo album.


If I can get to Denver in time I hope to meet and interview our National Beef Ambassadors. They’re pictured here with Daren Williams, 
At the recent AG CONNECT Expo I spoke with Ryan Molitor, Raven Applied Technologies Marketing Supervisor (pictured left). This is the precision ag division of the company. Here’s what Ryan says about their sponsorship.

It looks like the 
But the convention must go on. And so it does. A few meetings have gotten under way today, including a meeting of state beef council execs with the Cattlemen’s Beef Board’s collections compliance staff to discuss checkoff collections issues across the country. Another meeting going on this afternoon is of the members of the 

Our good friend Joel Jaeger,
In a joint announcement today, CommodityUPDATE, LLC, and
International is in the name of the show and our sponsor for coverage of the largest poultry show in the world. Novus International shows that by having a number of their representatives on hand for different areas of the world. I spoke with several of them during the International Poultry Expo starting with Shawn Atkins, Sales Director, Poultry & Dairy, in the United States. Shawn talks about how their products can help with feed optimization which is crucial to raising poultry successfully. He says attendees have been asking about specific products in the specialty area.
Turning to another part of the world I spoke with Albert Van Dijk, Market Manager, Poultry & Swine, EME. Albert handles the European and Middle East territory. He says poultry is a challenging market in the EU right now since growth has stabilized. However, in areas like the Ukraine, Turkey and Russia poultry is growing.
Our next stop on our world tour with Novus is the northern Latin America region. Taking care of business there is Jorge Gonzalez, Sales Manager, LAN. His region includes Mexico. Jorge says the business is big and growing. It has also been expanding beyond poultry into swine and ruminants.
Finally, let’s look at the Asian/Pacific market with Craige Allan (pictured right), Regional Marketing Manager, South East Asia. He says all areas are experiencing growth in production/consumption since the population is growing so much. Craige enjoys finding out the needs of his customers and then helping them to formulate a solution. He says this strategy works well for Novus.